Jesus said to pray for the food you will eat, or your daily bread as some versions say, which probably refers to everything we need to survive - food, shelter, clothing, water... When Jesus taught this, people were paid day by day for the work they did that day. There was no sick leave, worker's compensation or holidays. If you didn't work that day, you probably didn't eat that day.
We are told to pray about these things but also, not to worry about them. Matthew 6:25-26 says, Don’t worry about the things you need to live—what you will eat, drink, or wear. Life is more important than food, and the body is more important than what you put on it. Look at the birds. They don’t plant, harvest, or save food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. Don’t you know you are worth much more than they are? God looks after the birds and you're much more important than them, so how much more will he look after you! Psalm 16:5 says, Lord, you give me all that I need. Psalm 145:16 You open your hands and give every living thing all that it needs. God cares about our needs and invites us to pray about them.
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Matthew 6:10
We pray that your kingdom will come — that what you want will be done here on earth, the same as in heaven. When he said, we pray that your kingdom will come, Jesus was praying:
Then he prayed that God's will would be done, what he wants will be done on earth, just like it is in heaven. We spend most of our lives trying to do and get what we want, but being a Christian means pursuing and chasing after what God wants instead. In Psalm 40:8 David said, I desire to do your will, my God. When you become a Christian, God gives you new desires - to love and please him. However, what you feed grows, so if you feed the human nature, you will be led by those desires. If you feed the spirit, God will give you a desire to do his will. You feed the spirit you read and study God's word, memorise scripture, pray, fast... Psalm 37:4 says, Do what the Lord wants, and he will give you your heart’s desire. That doesn't mean that if you do what God wants he will give you a brand new car or new phone you want. If you do what God wants, he will give you what you want if it lines up with his will. CHALLENGE: Pray that God would give you a desire to do his will. Jesus gave us an example of how to pray in Matthew chapter six which is commonly known as The Lord's Prayer. Verse 9 says So this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, we pray that your name will always be kept holy. The first part of this verse instructs us to address God as 'our Heavenly Father.' We don't have to address him formally as you would a king or queen, but rather as our heavenly Dad. What a privilege to address the creator of the universe as our father.
The second part of the verse means, may your name be kept holy, celebrated, glorified, revered and praised. It is effectively saying, 'God, we give praise you. We want our lives to glorify you.' The first two important aspects of prayer from this verse are:
Challenge: Are there things in your life that don't glorify God? Bring them to God and ask him to help you live a life that honours him. Prayer has typically been portrayed as something you do on your knees with your hands fastened in front of you and your eyes closed but this isn't the only way you can pray. Kneeling is a symbol of respect but the attitude of respect is more important than your posture when you pray. No one is quite sure where the palms pressed together or hands clasped originated from, possibly to keep you from fiddling. There is no mention in the Bible about closing your eyes during prayer, though this too could prevent you from looking around and getting distracted. In John 17:1 it says, After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed. It's hard to look toward heaven with your eyes closed.
When you pray, kneeling, closing your eyes, bowing your head and clasping your hands are not important. God looks at your heart, not your physical posture. Download our free advent calendar below.
Praying continually might seem like an impossible task, but when you think about it there are lots of opportunities to pray throughout the day.
I love the idea of Bible journaling but find it hard to make time. There is a lot of difficult stuff going on in the world right now. David wrote some awesome honest and raw Psalms when he was going through some difficult times so I thought I would write my own. It was very cathartic. You don't have to use fancy words, just be real. If you need some inspiration, read some of the Psalms in the Old Testament.
I often do this. When I wake up in the middle of the night I talk to God. Sometimes I fall asleep really quickly and other times we have a really good chat.
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